Head to head · Girls' names
Catherine vs Colette
#313 vs #316 in 2025
Catherine is a whisker ahead (#313 vs #316 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Catherine is stepping back from its peak, Colette is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Colette has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Catherine leads 5 measures of 6; Colette leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Catherine #41, Colette — — Catherine higher
- 1890s: Catherine #41, Colette #1368 — Catherine higher
- 1900s: Catherine #29, Colette #1299 — Catherine higher
- 1910s: Catherine #20, Colette #1277 — Catherine higher
- 1920s: Catherine #28, Colette #1161 — Catherine higher
- 1930s: Catherine #43, Colette #797 — Catherine higher
- 1940s: Catherine #47, Colette #729 — Catherine higher
- 1950s: Catherine #34, Colette #474 — Catherine higher
- 1960s: Catherine #53, Colette #443 — Catherine higher
- 1970s: Catherine #70, Colette #676 — Catherine higher
- 1980s: Catherine #70, Colette #906 — Catherine higher
- 1990s: Catherine #86, Colette #1237 — Catherine higher
- 2000s: Catherine #117, Colette #1323 — Catherine higher
- 2010s: Catherine #188, Colette #656 — Catherine higher
- 2020s: Catherine #314, Colette #433 — Catherine higher
Catherine stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Catherine | Colette |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #41 | — |
| 1890s | #41 | #1368 |
| 1900s | #29 | #1299 |
| 1910s | #20 | #1277 |
| 1920s | #28 | #1161 |
| 1930s | #43 | #797 |
| 1940s | #47 | #729 |
| 1950s | #34 | #474 |
| 1960s | #53 | #443 |
| 1970s | #70 | #676 |
| 1980s | #70 | #906 |
| 1990s | #86 | #1237 |
| 2000s | #117 | #1323 |
| 2010s | #188 | #656 |
| 2020s | #314 | #433 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Catherine
Not established
The name has no recoverable original meaning. The purity association came later, by resemblance rather than descent, and the earliest forms do not support it.
Aikaterine → Katharina → Catherine
How it traveled
Six English queens carried the name and three of them were married to the same man. He worked through them in the space of about a decade — one divorced after twenty-four years, one beheaded at nineteen or twenty, one who survived him and remarried within months — and the name accordingly runs through the most turbulent stretch of English royal history at a rate no other manages.
Colette
victory of the people
Colette shortens Nicolette, the French feminine diminutive of Nicholas, from Greek Nikolaos — nikē, 'victory', and laos, 'people'.
Nikolaos → Nicholas → Nicole → Nicolette → Colette
How it traveled
The root is Greek: Nikolaos, borne widely across the early Christian world and carried west as Nicholas. French made a feminine of it, Nicole, then a diminutive of that, Nicolette — and then, as French does, trimmed the front off and kept the tail.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Catherine
KATH-ur-in
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The c is hard, as it is in every form of the name, so the two spellings sound identical.
- Cathy — The commonest short form of the c-spelling and completely established.
- Cate — The shortest form with the c kept; crisp and rather current.
- Trina — Taken from the back of the continental forms; a standing name of its own.
Colette
kuh-LET
Stress falls on the second syllable. Some American speakers say koh-LET with a fuller first vowel; in French it is closer to kaw-LET, with both syllables more even. All three are heard and none causes confusion.
- Coco — A long-standing French pet form for names beginning in Co-; informal, and used as a standalone nickname more than as a legal given name.
- Lettie — Takes the second half instead of the first; also an independent old given name in its own right, from Letitia and Violet.
- Cole — Informal clipping used in English-speaking families; also a common boys' given name and surname on its own.
- Etta — Draws on the -ette ending; a standalone given name with its own separate history.
- Also Colie.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Catherine if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsCatherine is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itCatherine runs 3 syllables, Colette 2
- a long American recordCatherine was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 55% for Colette
Choose Colette if you want…
- a name on the way upup 215 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesColette is 2 syllables to Catherine's 3
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Coco, Lettie and Cole
- a newer arrivalColette entered the US charts in 1892
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Catherine
Strengths
- It has been in continuous use for well over a thousand years.
- The short forms are numerous and span several registers and languages.
- It is recognized across Europe with minimal change of spelling.
To consider
- The k spelling is equally standard and the choice is queried for life.
- No meaning can be given honestly, whatever other pages assert.
- Its peak was early enough to give the name some period weight.
Colette
Strengths
- Two syllables, six letters, and no silent traps — most people spell it correctly after hearing it once.
- Recognizable across French, Italian, Dutch and English without changing form or needing translation.
- Several ready-made short forms with real histories behind them: Coco, Lettie, Cole.
To consider
- The double-l spelling Collette is common enough that you should expect to correct forms, name tags and email addresses fairly often. Neither spelling is wrong, which is exactly why the confusion persists.
- It is also frequently misheard as Colleen, and occasionally as Charlotte over a bad phone line. Saying it slowly, with the stress clearly on the second half, solves most of it.
- The name is climbing rather than settled, so it will feel less rare over the years than it does now — though it remains a long way from being in every classroom.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Catherine
12%chance Catherine feels dated by 2040
Catherine has held the top-100 across 12 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Colette
55%chance Colette feels dated by 2040
Colette is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Catherine and Colette in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Catherine and Colette?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Catherine and Colette — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Catherine or Colette — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Catherine or Colette?
- Catherine, in 2025: Catherine ranked #313 with 972 babies; Colette ranked #316 with 962 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Catherine or Colette?
- Colette. Over the last five years Catherine moved down 46 places; Colette moved up 215 places.
- Which is the older name, Catherine or Colette?
- Catherine was already in use when US records began in 1880; Colette entered the US charts in 1892. On the American record, Catherine is the older name.
- How many people are named Catherine and Colette?
- About 390,000 people named Catherine are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 25,000 people named Colette are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Catherines or Colettes in the classroom?
- Catherine will almost certainly be the only one in school. Colette will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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